John Winters got tired of hearing all the mythological explanations for what made a good canoe. As a serious canoe tripper himself he wanted good boats for himself and understood that there were physical reasons for how boats move through the water that are known to science. While large ships and high performance yachts have long been put through rigorous engineering analysis during the design phase, John understood that this was rarely done for small recreational boats such as canoes and kayaks and that the design of these small boats would be improved with objective analysis of their performance. Seeking to improve his paddling experience and those of others, John did just that, creating efficient and beautiful canoe and kayak designs for several commercial boat manufactures as well as himself.
Martin Step, the owner of Green Valley Boat Works is a skilled boat builder and draftsman, looking for quality designs to provide his clients he sought out John Winters and asked if Green Valley could offer John's designs as plans for DIY boat builders. Martin has brought his skills and experience to play in producing high quality plans of John's designs along with sharing his knowledge on how to build them at the highest level of craftsmanship.